The Littering Is Wrong Too campaign was designed to get residents talking about litter and stigmatize litterers by linking littering with other wrongdoings and socially un-acceptable behaviours.

Context

Litter is still a major problem in the United States. This, despite decades of education campaigns and grassroots efforts by local governments and non-profits nationwide. Communities struggle with keeping an apathetic public mindful and concerned about the cost and impact of litter. Keep America Beautiful, along with their affiliate Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, piloted the campaign in Cincinnati and then made it available to all 1,200 local affiliates nationwide.

Philosophy/Solution

Litter prevention is a major focus area for Keep America Beautiful. Yet litter is not a top of mind issue for most Americans. This campaign sought to get attention and create a dialogue about litter. It was also intended to serve as a test campaign that KAB could provide to its 1,200 local affiliate communities so they could engage their local residents in litter prevention.

Results

The campaign was initially piloted in Cincinnati, Ohio. Research conducted among the target audience before and after the campaign revealed that more Cincinnatians now believe that reducing litter is “extremely important.” Residents’ awareness of their own littering increased, as did the feeling of peer pressure to not litter. The pressure not to litter was evident in Cincinnatians’ reporting that they would be embarrassed to be caught littering and their belief that their friends think littering is wrong. In addition, one in three recognize the slogan “Littering is Wrong Too” after the first three months of the campaign. And in addition, 4 in 10 of these residents say it caused them to be more aware of others littering. A similar proportion say it made them more aware of their own littering. And finally, the percentage of young adults who consider reducing litter to be extremely important increased from 19% to 32% after the campaign. During the pilot campaign, just under 1,300 “wrongs” were submitted online (exceeding our campaign goal by 100) and over 800 residents were engaged and motivated to write a wrong at events, exceeding our goal by 50.
Following the Cincinnati pilot, the campaign served as a way for local KAB affiliates to engage in litter prevention in their local communities. It was made available to all 1,200 affiliates.